Thread: Do you believe critiquing others' work is important

Do you believe critiquing others helps you improve your own writing?

Do you learn from others' critiques?

Do you believe you can critique?

Do you critique/review/comment in a constructive way, or at all?

if not, Why?


Thanks for your time and thoughts


Sync

I think it does.
Every writer has a blind spot somewhere, and having a fresh pair of eyes can help point them out.
Writers need to be in the right mind frame to be take criticism for their works, constructive or not. I think one who wants to undergo the crushing process of evaluation has to have confidence to a) put out the work that they really feel passionate about and not just write what others want to see, b) be able to look at their work objectively and clearly, and c) should stand behind their work and take ownership of it.
Given my green-ness, I'm definitely not experienced enough to criticize.

Good questions Sync

1. yes, critiquing does help me improve my own writing because it is easier to be objective about others' work than my own and I am looking at it with fresh eyes

2. there is a lot to learn from other people's critiques. No two people see a story in the same way and often point out things I will agree with but wouldn't have seen

3. this is a hard one to answer - I try my best but I am no expert, I've had no teaching but I hope that some of the things I highlight will be helpful. At the end of the day, all I can offer is my perspective. It is up to the writer to agree or not. Hopefully I am still improving.

4. I hope my critiquing/reviewing/comments are constructive. Sometimes what's in my head may not get translated well on the page but I try to be polite and also say what I like about a piece of work.

thank you Guy, for your time and thoughts.

I am looking at this site, so want to get a general feel before I decide on how to proceed.

for me, anyone who writes, has the ability to critique. If they can form a sentence/para/chapter/story/poem, then they know the general principles of writing enough to read and learn through another.

Often I've seen, in the sites I go to, new writers telling old writers that they aren't experienced enough to critique, yet they are experienced enough to write and wish a critique. To me, this seems odd.

I learn from every comment and critique. As you correctly hinted at, our own eyes sometimes overlook the obvious or get stuck in phrases-errors that continue throughout the work....show/tell - passive - purple prose and such.

Thank you for your time

Appreciated

Sync

Thank you Shadows,

I am in the same track of thought as you. it's been about 6 or 8 years of critiquing for me, with the last 2-3 more seriously involved in improving my writing and trying to help others. I have only my experience to help them with, but if a site has no 'give/take' then it for me is just a place to post work, and therefore a place I can not improve on.

Well done on critiquing.

thanks for your time and thoughts.

Sync

That is a shame Sync

If there is any work you'd like me to look at I'm happy to do so.

No, that is fine, Shadows. But I do appreciate the offer. This thread was not meant to be an advertisement to get critiques. It is just me trying to sort out the site and one way is to ask what others think of critiquing, how they believe writing can be improved.

Not all the advice I have recieved has been helpful, but some certainly has. As someone said, another pair of eyes will see things differently, or spot things I missed completely.
I find giving and recieving crit. has made me, far more picky about my own writing, and know more what I am looking for, partly that's following up the books and links I have seen reccomended, but then passing on the information and seeing it in a "real life" context both help it stick in the memory and be available to me.

It is sometimes difficult to be constructive. One tries, and where I see multiple errors I tend to point out one or two that repeat rather than each one individually.

Hello, Olly

Yes, the advice given sometimes depends on the level of skill of writing that those commenting has achieved at that time. But still, I've picked up lil gems from new writers, things that I'd not considered before.

You mention that critiques have made you look more into your own writing(which is great to hear) The idea of a critique is not only to help the writer given to, but also, as you said, improve your own way. I've critiqued every genre I could find because a story often has a mixture of all genres if you look at it close enough, and what better way to learn to write a love/murder/scifi scene, than from those who write them.

Being constructive is something that comes in time. Wording, advice, trying to rephrase their words without putting in your own 'voice'. I often say to writers that words are cheap, they can be found anywhere, but your 'own voice' is something you should never let go.

thank you for your time and thoughts,

Appreciated

Sync

Originally Posted by Sync

Do you believe critiquing others helps you improve your own writing?

Do you learn from others' critiques?

Do you believe you can critique?

Do you critique/review/comment in a constructive way, or at all?

if not, Why?

Yes, I believe it helps. Analyzing another's work allows one to practice editing without having the added difficulty of dealing with your preconceptions about your own work.

I rarely get anything valuable from the critiques others give my work, which is one reason I don't frequent this site as much now. I think people need to read a whole work to really be helpful, but I only write long-form novels, which cannot be critiqued efficiently here.

I can critique others, but I don't particularly like to. I'm still not confident in my close-reading abilities to tell writers anything but how it makes me feel, which I sometimes do.

I don't critique much anymore, as I described above. I'm too biased, and I get bored reading on the computer too.

Hello Dwell,

yes exactly so about how critiquing helps. Of course you have to open your eyes fully to see if what is said does help indeed, or whether it is just the eyes of the writer who does not wish to see those changes made. some writers don't wish to see...

I used to critique novels, more than once beta-read/beta-edited whole pieces, but then again, i'm not here to look at stories as a reader, so seeing a whole piece is not necessary for me to critique an individual writing style.

May I ask why you come onto this site if it has nothing to offer in ways of writing improvements? Or is it just for the friendship - which can be another avenue.

I ask this out of curiousity.

thank you for your time and thoughts

Appreciated

Sync

Originally Posted by Sync

Do you believe critiquing others helps you improve your own writing?

It may do, but I feel that writing and reading helps me improve much more.

Do you learn from others' critiques?

Depends on the quality of the critique. If it's SPaG-based, no. I'm somewhat of a SPaG Nazi. If it's based on problems with a storyline, character issues, or anything like that, I probably learn something, yes.

Do you believe you can critique?

Yes.

Do you critique/review/comment in a constructive way, or at all?

When I can.

if not, Why?

A combination of things: I'm busy writing my next novel, busy doing staff duties, or busy with college work.

Reading people's comments and discussion entertains me because I like to review. I learn a lot here from reading critiques of other people. I generally can't get any advice on my own work that makes me say: "I really learned something there" though. And I know that sounds arrogant, but I've been a member here for years. I've played the game of getting and giving crits to an extent, and now I just can't do it. There's definitely things out there I don't know, a lot of things. I just don't know how to find them here.

I definitely don't come here for friendship. The site has gotten a lot better, but I still think too many people are 'bite your head off at a moments notice' sort.

Excellent reply, Dweller,

sometimes it is needed to go to more than one site to improve. It is great that you read comments and critiques still - as you, I also do the same.

Very hard it is to find the refining critiques after you have reached a certain level, but they are out there.

I appreciate the time and comeback

Sync

sorry Sam, I missed your post.

We differ on opinions about the strength of giving a critique.

I used to also think that writing and reading were the only tools or the best. but the more I move into writing and refining, the more I see otherwise. If you don't actively look to improve a piece(such as one written by another writer) how can know how to improve your own, because often we are blind to our own errors and weaknesses). Plus often others can show you another way of saying what you stumbled on.

thank you for your thoughts and time.

Appreciated

Sync